Agenda

Keynotes by champions of humanitarian and development work

A Focus on refugee crisis: Changing the narrative

Discussing the refugee crisis and changing its narrative, this session will address the issue of displacement and migration. It will highlight the current plight of economic migrants and refugees from Africa to Mexico. The panellists will discuss what's causing this mass migration and what we need to do to solve this. The discussion will cover government policies, role of NGOs, PPPs, role of media and the multilateral organisations like the UN. Are we doing enough to help those who are fleeing war torn nations? How can we change the narrative so that they are embraced and accepted, instead of being ill-treated and harmed? How can we engage the private sector to play a key role in tackling this challenge?

This session will focus on new models of impact investment in the development sector. There is a spending gap of about $1 trillion per year if even minimum service delivery standards necessary to meet the SDGs are to be met. Traditional funding models cannot help bridge the funding gap. We need to think of new ways and means to achieve this. Aid alone cannot be enough to help countries achieve their development agenda. The panellists will discuss new models such as blended finance impact bonds and public-private partnerships.

The closing session speech will be delivered by a leading development sector expert. The speaker will highlight ‘How has the sector changed in the past 10 years? What will it look like in the next 10 years? What are the biggest challenges it faces today and what are the solutions?

Despite progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, Africa continues to lag behind most of the world when it comes to socio-economic development.  More than half of the global poor (those who earn under $1.90 PPP per day) are found in Africa. One in three Africans is at risk of food insecurity. It requires poverty alleviation, ending starvation and malnutrition, implementing sustainable development and harnessing the demographic dividend. Heads of State will outline their vision and challenges, Discuss policies that worked. Multilateral institutions will highlight the work they do to address the challenges and NGOs will share their case studies. Can the African Free Trade agreement do the trick?

We are faced with inequality on various fronts - from gender, wealth to opportunities. In this session, we will focus on inequality in education and how can we bridge it? Can technology play a role here?

It will take 108 years to close the gender gap. Only 6 countries give women equal legal work rights. Why are we failing to achieve women empowerment? Our panelists will discuss what they have done to bridge this gap. What are the biggest challenges and how can we push the agenda from hope to possibility?

By 2030, the target date for the sustainable development goals, it is projected that the number of youth in Africa will increase by 42 per cent to 321 million. This is expected to put additional pressure on the already strained education and health care services, housing and employment across the continent raising the need for proper planning by the authorities. In this session we will discuss how we must harness the youth dividend to meet development goals.

In international development, the number of partnerships between the public and private sector (PPPs) has risen in recent years. But discussion around the efficacy of PPPs has become increasingly polarised.